The Water, the Witch, and the Mercenary
Cole and Hector walked side by side, as they normally did. They began scanning the room, looking at all the other dark and independent mages that had gathered together. Although their guild had been disbanded, the individual members of Warlock Fist were still well known for their skill, and the pair was never without work. "You can barely get a read on any of these guys," said Hector. "Virtually no magic power." "You're not sensing hard enough," said Cole. "That girl to your right is rather powerful." Hector turned her. "Dibs." He ran over, Cole following behind him with a sigh. "Hey good lookin, what's cooking'?" Marlene had been relaxing on the caravan as she scanned the crowed around her. Noticing many of the mages had a fair amount of magic power, none really stood out to her. When she got bored of looking around she let her magic create a few rose petals in her hand that she began to play with, only looking up when the man spoke to her with one of the worst pick up lines she had heard. Looking the man up and down she merely smirked, "It's not often I'm hit on by a guy that looks like an elf." Hector's eyes widened and his face turned red with rage. "I am not an elf!" he shouted, but before he could act on his impulses, Cole grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry ma'am," he said, "Hector's a little it childish." "No harm done. Yet." She responded as she looked at Cole, who she thought was dressed like a flashy ninja but didn't voice yet opinion, not wanting to start something on the ride. "But fair warning. You guys aren't my type so I wouldn't try much more. Though you two seem like nice entertainment for the boring ride." She said as she looked around the crowed again, none of the people on the ride grabbed her attention and there weren't very many females on the ride either. "Entertainment!" Hector shouted. His anger reaching a boiling point. "Don't do anything stupid Hector," said Cole. "You'll have to fight me first." The mercenary began to calm down. "Alright fine. But the second I get the chance I'm sticking it to her." Marlene didn't take the threatening seriously as she had already been collecting a small vine below Hector to trap him if push came to shove. "Not the first time I've heard that one before." Her response came with a playful smile as she looked at the men. "Marlene by the way. I'm Marlene Amaryllis." Hector reached for his sword, but Cole stopped him. “I’m Cole Kyusatra. This is my partner, Hector Link. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ignoring Hector's actions she spoke, "It's nice to meet you as well. If you might save my curiosity. What are you two in here for? Guards or passengers?" She asked as she again looked around at the people. While she was looking for potentially more people to talk to, she was also memorizing and taking in every aspect of the area around her in case they were attacked. "Guards," said Cole. "From what I hear there's only one passenger and some cargo." "It's strange being on the other end of the cargo spectrum, ain't it?" said Hector. "Usually we're robbing these sorts of caravans." "Same here. Makes me itchy. I wanna know what we are transporting." As she said this she quite literally scratched get right arm. Under the space she scratched was her Devil Slayer tattoo which was the actual cause of her itchy feeling. "Well might as well get to know what I'm dealing with..." As she looked at the two mages she continued. "Hector, your a weapons style mage? What do you use? And Cole...stealth magic?" Cole gave her a fleeting smirk. "No." The two of them walked away without another word. "Hello ladies and gentlemen!" called a man. He was standing on top of a large metal case. "I am your boss! Today we will be transporting a container of pure magic energy to one of my other bases in Lupinus Town! If any of you even think of trying to open the case, well, I tagged you beforehand so that you'll get zapped. And it won't stop until you're dead. The journey will take about 3 days. Now everyone get ready to move!" "Notice how little information we still have?" said Hector. "Yeah," responded Cole, "I don't like it." Marlene watched their "boss" give his directions but could only wonder why this was needed. If what was in that crate really was pure magic energy, they should have all be on edge from it. Or at least from her experience. For a moment she closed her eyes as she felt a slight breeze move around them. Opening one of her hands a small amount of white Rose petals began to fly through the wind, one or two landing on the crate. To anyone watching they would have looked like normal rose petals. 'No one here other than those two seem very interested in the box and only want to get paid...makes it easier for me.' It wasn't much longer until the group got moving. Unfortunately for the hired men, they had to walk as the crate was carried on a carriage with the boss and his bodyguards on it. Hector walked back up to Marlene, extending his hand. "Hey, I'm sorry, but I think we got off on the wrong foot." "Don't be. I was patronizing." Shaking the man's hand as she spoke. Looking around at the people walking around and finally settled in the guards around their boss. 'Why does he need guards? He can't honestly think any of us are stupid enough to steal it by ourselves....' "Well, you can never be too careful," said Hector. "Chances are, someone here wouldn't be working alone. Speaking of which, are you by yourself?" "Yeah, I prefer it more often than not but I don't mind it on a mission like this." She said as she watched the guards. It was clear they weren't part of their party and had been hired independently from it. Then she looked at the box again, checking on the petals she had left on it in case of emergencies. Finally she let go of a sigh she had been holding in and decided she had three days to look over and memorize everything about the party. "Missions like these are nice sometimes, might meet someone special." "Perhaps you're referring to me," said Hector. "I am pretty special." Marlene couldn't hold in the laugh at Hector's remark and had to hold a hand over her mouth as she calmed down. "Ohh no. Sorry Hector but you aren't my type. But don't take it personally, men as a whole aren't my type." "Wait..." began Hector, "so you're gay?" Marlene simply nodded her head as she enjoyed the recognition that appeared on Hectors face. "Yeah, i figured if i didn't tell you about it you would have never figured it out." "Hector's the persistent type," said Cole, appearing almost out of nowhere. "He wouldn't have even bothered if he didn't find you physically attractive." "It's fine, i get it a lot." Marlene responded to Cole in a monotone voice as she kept her eyes on the crate. She felt that something was off with it but couldn't quite place it. That's when it happened. An explosion went off where the boss was, him and his bodyguards with flying out of it, lifeless, burnt corpses now laying on the ground. "Well that's just fantastic," said Hector, nonchalant about the whole ordeal. The main attack began. The other guards were dropping like flies, none of them strong enough to withstand the onslaught of magical forces that were attacking them. Cole jumped behind Hector. He Requiped his shield, blocking incoming attacks with a shroud that formed over them. "You would use me as a human shield!" shouted Hector. "Oh shut up," responded Cole.